Whitten walks...for real this time!

Of course he walked across the room right before I got the camera out! But, hey, it's still proof! However, I think it will be a while before he gives up his crawling. Sweet boy is speedy!

14 months

That stubborn second top tooth finally decided to make it's debut!

See...

So at 14 months, you have a whopping 3 teeth! There are no signs of any more bottom teeth coming in. But I do have hope! Your first bottom just kind of popped through, so maybe another one will just pop up soon!

-We finally got rid of bottles, well, almost! The only bottle you get is right before bed because that's the only milk you get all day long! You still don't like the taste of milk out of a sippy cup, but you will drink about 2 oz. from a straw with your breakfast. So for the time being, I'm still going to give you those 8 ounces right before bed until you start eating a little bit better!

-You are still not the best eater!! One day you will decide you want nothing to do with baby food, and the next day it is all you will eat!! You eat a piece of toast in the morning with some applesauce mixed with oatmeal. You have eaten chicken nuggets, but have recently decided you don't like them. You hate cheese and noodles. You love yogurt. You love baked beans....I just rinse the sugar off of them and you go to town! You like french fries...not very healthy, I know, but I'm just trying to get you used to eating real food. You won't touch veggies but for the time being you are still getting them through baby food! You still love banana and avocado puree! And....that's about it!!!! You drink plenty of water now, so the constipation issue has resolved itself!

-I've totally jinxed myself every time I bring up sleeping through the night! BUT....you are sleeping from 7:00 pm -7:30 am and have been very consistent for about 3 weeks! As soon as I stopped giving you a bottle in the middle of the night, you stopped waking up!!! Go figure! I knew that would be the case, but I wasn't ready to go full out until I knew you really weren't hungry. Every once in a while you wake up crying and I will rock you for a few minutes. But usually as soon as I pick you up, you are trying to dive back into the bed! You still take a 1 hour nap in the morning and a 1 hour nap in the afternoon!

-Still not walking, but you will walk on your knees all day long! It's so funny!!! You could totally walk if you really wanted to. You will walk beside me holding on to one finger. You're doing it all by yourself, you just don't realize it yet!

-You sign all done, more, and milk

-You can point to your belly and are really close to pointing to your nose. You can find Mommy's nose and Elmo's nose.

-Words: ba=ball, ca=car, mo=more, ba ba=bye bye, da da=all done, pple=apple. And still tons of jibber jabber.

-What does a cow say? Moo. What does a kitty say? Mow

-18-24 month clothes

-Size 4 diaper in huggies, size 5 in pampers

-You LOVE the abc song and always light up when you hear it. You try to sing to it and it's just so darn cute!

-You still suck on your lip/tongue for comfort.

-Your favorite time of day is putting on your pi's! It is so very soothing to you. You can be so fussy, and as soon as you see your pajama's, your whole face lights up. And as soon I as I slip one arm in, your mouth goes directly to it! You place your lips on the fabric and just suck away. You don't actually suck on the fabric....you just let your lips touch it. You have been doing this FOREVER.... it's an immediate comfort!!

-You love trucks, cars, balls and play with them correctly! Your big brother was never a fan of cars, but your a typical boy and LOVE them!!

Cooper at 14 months!

3 more days...

Three more days until Whitten turns 14 months old! Which means he has three more days to learn how to walk! He will take steps here and there between things, but only if he's completely focused on what he's trying to get to, and completely unaware of the fact that he is taking steps! Josh thought he was definitely going to be walking by 14 months....I said 15! Looks like momma is right...unless he surprises us in the next 72 hours! Until then, our little man will just walk on his knees!

Tender Heart!

What can I say? My sweet Cooper has is sensitive soul!! I had the chance to watch him interact with some unknown boys at the park this past weekend, and it was interesting to say the least! Let me first say that he looked like a little puppy dog with his tail wagging a million times a minute when he realized that there were actually "friends" at the park! We had gone the day before, and he was truly disappointed that nobody was there to play with him! He kept saying, "Look, Mommy, my friends came to play with me!" So as I was getting Whitten out of the car, Cooper dashed over to a group of boys and happily introduced himself. It went a little like this:

Coop: Hey, I'm Cooper, what's your name?

Boys: Blank stares, and then a reply from one little boy... uhhhh, Adam.

C: Wanna play with me? Come get me!!!

Boys: More blank stares

C: Come get me. Let's play!

Boys: Seemed quite annoyed!

C: Ran away, looking back...hoping that someone is chasing him.

Finally, a little boy Coop's size (Adam...who I later found out was 4 1/2) followed Cooper to pick up pine cones. They chatted. It was cute. Coop decided he wanted to swing. Yes, he still likes the baby swings because he can "go really high"!! So, he and Adam ran to the swings! Well, he got made fun of for swinging in the baby swing! He wanted out and then had to wait to get in a "big boy" swing! After Adam walked away, Coop decided to try the big swing....only to have Adam come stomping back and demanding his swing back. Coop got out and picked up a stick that Adam had been playing with earlier. Again, Adam demanded "his" stick back. Coop handed it to him and tears began to well up in his eyes! I could tell he didn't want Adam to know he was crying, but his feelings were hurt. He walked over to me, and told me he was ready to go.

All this to say....well, a couple of things! #1: Holy moly! I can't handle kids not being nice to my kid! Ha! How terrible is that!? I didn't know how to handle the situation. I wonder if Coop would have handled the situation differently if I wasn't there. #2: Coop is so very sensitive and I've always known that! #3: I will take sensitive over rude any day! #4: I worry being sensitive will hinder him. #5: Will he be able to stick up for himself? #6: I don't want him to be known as the cry baby (which....he kind of is right now)!

I had another interesting conversation with Cooper's teacher the other day during our conference! I've always assumed that he was super outgoing and somewhat of a leader! Not even!!!!! She told me that he was actually a little bit timid and seemed to hang back and observe....trying to find his place!!! So interesting! She also told me that most of the kids in his class had gone to MDO together and knew each other! I wonder if that was why he was so timid! I so wish I could be a fly on the wall to watch him interact!!

I'm not enjoying thinking about his adolescent years! I pray with all of my heart that first and foremost he loves Jesus with every ounce of his being and that the friends he does make, love Jesus just as much! I pray that they love each other and support each other! I pray that he's never afraid to talk about God and that he encourages his friends to do the same!

Yikes! I don't like this growing up thing! We have such a responsibility as parents! As my sweet friend reminded me the other day, these are not our children, they are God's children and they are only on loan to us for a little while!

So, that little boy at the park!? Cooper told me he wasn't nice! So we had a great conversation about how to be nice to friends and that we need to be respectful and polite even when our friends are not nice to us! Ummm....hoping that sticks!!

Whitt walks....

on his knees!!!!

Spidey and Stinky!

Coop as Mr. Stinker two years ago!!!